In August, the peak of ripening of vegetables begins, and hostesses rush to provide the family with delicious marinades and pickles for the winter. They exchange with each other new interesting and proven old recipes. This year, a neighbor shared with me a recipe for pickled pickles and brought last year's jar of bright multi-colored pickled vegetables "on trial." The whole garden seemed to fit in this jar - tomatoes, cucumbers, apples, onions, zucchini, garlic, sweet and bitter peppers, squash (all the vegetables were tiny). After trying, I certainly decided to please my family with such a winter billet. I want to share with you the recipe of pickled pickles.
What is pickles?
Not every hostess knows what pickles are; for some reason, many people think that pickles and gherkins are one and the same. In fact, the overseas word "pickles" ("pickles") hides small pickled vegetables: cucumber babies, baby tomatoes, crumb-carrots and baby onions.
Surprise your family in the winter by harvesting cabbage, tomatoes, zucchini, onions, garlic, pepper, rhubarb, celery, parsnip.
American cooks always add pickles to the cooked sandwiches and hamburgers as a finishing touch, for which these pickled vegetables in the USA received the title of "bread and butter pickles". Pickles are used not only in sandwiches, but also as a separate snack to alcohol or as a side dish to meat, and are very popular in the United States and the UK. 
Did you know? Specialists nutritionists of all winter vegetable preparations prefer to pickle and pickle, as the most successful options. Doctors believe that this method of preparation creates food based on lactic acid fermentation, and these substances are very useful for the recovery of intestinal microflora.
Ingredients Required
The following layout of vegetables and spices is enough to close the 4 liter cans of pickles. The layout is given approximately, since all the vegetables are of different sizes. I still have unused ingredients for another liter jar. But it's not scary, just need to cook another portion of the marinade and make another jar of pickles. 
Vegetables need:
- 20-30 pieces of cucumbers (gherkins);
- 20-30 pieces of tomatoes (cherry);
- one head of white cauliflower;
- 15 small carrots (the length of the index finger);
- three handfuls of young white onions (diameter of the head 2-3 cm);
- 10 pieces. black peppercorns and 20 coriander kernels.
Kitchen appliances and utensils
In addition to vegetables and spices for the preparation of pickles, we need:
- a large pan (three-liter) for warming some vegetables in boiling water before pickling;
- another large container (3-5 liters) to boil water;
- oven;
- four thick yellow lids for preservation (white lids can also be taken, but experience shows that yellow carries the raw air of the cellar better) or twist-off lids;
- four liter jars;
- zakatochny key for canning (if you have the usual tin cans);
- kitchen gloves or a pair of linen towels (so as not to burn yourself on hot surfaces);
- sharp knife for cutting and cleaning vegetables.
Features of product selection
To make it happen, the hostess needs to specifically pick the vegetables in size. They take cucumbers no more pinky. Choosing tomatoes, it is best to take varieties of cherry, especially since now there is a large selection of such tomatoes with different coloring of the skin (yellow, red, pink, brown, yellow and red stripes). 
It is difficult to find a tiny carrot, but there is a way out - you can buy a couple of bunches of young carrots from the grandmothers on the market and cut each along into 4 pieces. Cauliflower can be taken not only white (prescription), but also purple. When laying in the jar, the cabbage layers will alternate by color, and it will turn out very elegantly.
Important! Having tried this recipe, it turns out that it is more convenient to close the assortment of pickles in large jars (1.5 and 2 liters). They are more convenient to place more layers of vegetables. It will be tastier and more spectacular. To sterilize and warm two-liter cans, you need to increase the sterilization time by 15 minutes, and containers-liter - on 10 minutes.
Step-by-step recipe with photos
To cook pickled pickles, you need to follow the recipe exactly: from the preliminary preparation of vegetable ingredients for canning to the preparation of the marinade strictly according to the recipe.
The stalks are cut, the root crops are cleaned and the cauliflower is disassembled. Carrots and cauliflowers need pre-heating to become softer. Banks for canning must be sterilized with hot steam or in an oven.
Vegetable preparation
If the hostess was unable to buy all the ingredients in the recipe or vegetables of the right size - no problem. In pickling pickles, the most important thing is the pickle recipe, and the ingredients can be changed at their discretion (put something more, put something at all).
Root crops, larger in size than necessary, can be cut into rings or slices. The main thing is that all components (sliced and whole) should be approximately the same size. The prepared pickles are laid out in separate containers, from which they will then be recruited (separate cucumbers, separate onions).
Learn how to pickle, pickle and ferment tomatoes, pickle mushrooms, make salted cucumbers, lettuce with tomatoes and pickle for the winter.
We begin the preliminary training:
- all vegetables are well washed in several waters;
- root crops are cleared from the skins;
- onions are peeled;
- cut off tomatoes with a tomato brush to which they are attached;
- carrots and cauliflower are boiled a little;
- the cucumbers are cut off on both sides of the "ass".
Some vegetables and root crops, due to their density and hardness, need additional heating in boiling water. This cooking technique is called blanching. In our case, products such as cauliflower and carrot need blanching.
Before blanching cauliflower must be disassembled into small florets. If the carrot is somewhat larger than necessary, then it must be cut lengthwise into four parts (or into thick rings). Blanch cauliflower and carrot separately in boiling water.
To do this, they are immersed in boiling water for 5 minutes, after which they are fished out of boiling water with a kitchen colander. With the further layout of the pickles in layers in cans - use these partially boiled cauliflower and carrots. All the ingredients are laid out on 5 piles, approximately the same size. This is done so that the hostess does not forget to put anything in the bank.
Did you know? To achieve the effect of a transparent, like a tear, pickle pickles - add a couple of pieces of peeled horseradish root and its coarsely chopped green leaves to the bottom of the jar.
Bookmark in banks
In the banks washed with soda, the vegetables are laid in layers. When layers are laid, it is desirable to make them contrast. For example, after a layer of white cauliflower inflorescences, you should lay a layer of red cherry tomatoes or bright orange carrots; the next layer is laid of light vegetables (onions, garlic or zucchini).
Such contrast layers are stacked up to the top of the tank - this will give an elegant look of conservation.
Pour boiling water
When the tanks are filled to the top, they are poured with boiling water. Banks are filled with boiling water very carefully, 1/3 of the whole tank is immediately poured, after 30 seconds the rest of boiling water is slowly added. These precautions are necessary so that the glass does not crack from sudden changes in temperature. Hot liquid should reach the neck of the container.
Important! Particular attention should be paid to the fact that after any kind of sterilization or heating with boiling water, the glass surface will be red-hot, and in order not to get burned, the hostess should use kitchen gloves or towels when working with them.
Warming up
After that, the cans are covered with a metal lid for preservation and put in the oven for 15 minutes. The oven must be preheated at a temperature of +100 ° C. This is to ensure that all the ingredients are warmed up well.
After warming up, pour the hot water from the cans into the saucepan. Banks with heated vegetables are placed at the time of cooking the marinade in the oven or wrapped in a warm towel. This will prevent them from cooling down.
Cook marinade
When the vegetables are laid out in banks, it remains to cook the marinade. We measure by means of the liter capacity the hot water merged from cans. We set its quantity, and taking into account this data, we prepare the marinade.
The marinade recipe for pickled pickles (per 1 liter of water):
- add 40 g of salt and 40 g of sugar to the water, 10 pcs. black peppercorns and 20 coriander seeds;
- while stirring, bring the contents of the pan to a boil and boil on low heat for two minutes until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved;
- 50 g of vinegar (9%) are poured into the weakly boiling marinade and the pan is tightly covered with a lid (vinegar can be taken both apple and wine);
- quickly bring the marinade with vinegar to a boil (so that the vinegar does not evaporate).
Did you know? According to medical experts, it is advisable to use natural apple cider vinegar, wild cherry plum or cranberry juice when preparing the preservation. It is these components that are not only beneficial to the human body, but also soften the taste of canned foods. 200 ml of cranberry juice or half a glass of wild yellow cherry plum are taken per liter of pickle or marinade. Doctors approve the use of citric acid (0.5 tsp. For 1 liter of water) in canning.
Fill and sterilize
We proceed to the final stage:
Filled with herbs, spices and vegetables, poured hot marinade jars are set on a baking tray in the oven. The neck of each jar is covered with a metal cap for preservation (without rolling it up), this will not allow the pickle to boil during the sterilization process.
The baking tray is gently placed in the oven to sterilize the pickles. The oven timer is set to a temperature of +200 ° C. The jars must be sterilized until a chain of bubbles begins to rise from the bottom to the neck. This is a sign that the marinade begins to boil in a jar. After that, the pickles are sterilized for another 20 minutes at the same temperature. After 20 minutes, turn off the oven and take out the cans with pickles.
Banks of vegetables are taken out of the oven and rolled up with the help of a canister key. If you have special cans for preservation with a neck suitable for twist-off lids (with threads), then these lids are closed manually. To do this, tightly wrap the lid on the neck of the jar until it stops.
Important! After the banks are blocked, they must be checked for the integrity of the closure. For this, jars of pickles are placed on a flat surface of the table with lids down and for a couple of minutes they carefully observe whether the marinade will leak out. Another sign of a tightly closed lid will be a chain of air bubbles rising when the can is turned upwards. If a leakage is detected, the can is again rolled up with a can key or twisted twist-off along the thread for one turn of the lid. This procedure is repeated until the marinade stops digging out from under the lid. The well-closed lid of the twist-off is cool, slightly drawn into the jar, it is easy to determine visually.
Pickle jars are left at room temperature until cool. The next day, labels with the date of manufacture are glued to the cans with marinades and transferred to storage in the basement or storeroom.
Storage and useful tips
Each experienced housewife, reading this recipe, will definitely notice that the process of cooking pickles is very similar to our traditional canning of vegetables for the winter.
But in pickling pickles there is A few nuances to consider in order to achieve a good result:
- In the marinade for pickles you need to add (to the taste of the hostess) spicy herbs, mustard seeds, various peppers, turmeric and nutmeg.
- Vegetables must be small! If during pickling there are no vegetables up to 5 cm in size, they can be cut into pieces of the same size.
- Pikuli can be prepared in mono-composition and assorted. That is, you can marinate only small cucumbers or tomatoes.
- For the preparation of pickles, it is not necessary to take only vegetables or root vegetables, berries and fruits (grapes, apples, pears, plums, etc.) are quite suitable.
- All vegetables, fruits or root vegetables that are poorly amenable to short-term treatment with boiling water, must be blanched.
- For pickles, you can take not only wine vinegar, but also any natural (rice, apple).
- You can store ready-made pickles for 1-2 years in a dark, cool basement or other suitable room.
Pickled pickles will be ready to eat no earlier than in a month. Only after this period the vegetables will marinate well and acquire the characteristic taste of these products.
I hope, now it has become a little clearer what pickles are, and this recipe will be useful for hostesses in order to pamper the family during the winter period with very tasty, unusual pickled crumbs-vegetables.
It is not necessary to strictly follow the specified list of vegetables, the hostess can add any other vegetables at her discretion. These can be: green peas and maize grains, young asparagus bean pods, beans, eggplants and squash - all that tells you the culinary imagination. The most important thing in cooking pickled pickles is marinade. Dare, dream, and preparations tasty to you!
